Softball: Larkin pulls away from Elgin
With the arrival of warmer temperatures, the softball bats have come out of hibernation.
Larkin and Elgin combined for 24 hits in their Upstate Eight opener Monday at Elgin. The Royals smacked only 10 of those hits, but they used them to maximum effect in a 12-4 victory.
Larkin broke the game open by scoring 8 times in the last 2 innings.
Kaitlin Turner had 3 of Larkin's hits while scoring twice and driving in 3. Audriana Escobar had 2 hits, and leadoff hitter Kiara Villa walked 4 times and scored 3 runs for Larkin (2-3, 1-0).
"It feels really good," said Turner of winning the conference opener against their crosstown rivals. "Last year we weren't as confident playing Elgin as we were this year. But today we just came out ready to win."
Larkin freshman pitcher Kailey Cronin worked out of trouble all day to post the complete-game victory. She didn't issue a walk while striking out 3.
Elgin, which hadn't had more than 2 hits in any of its first 3 games, knocked out 14 but, unfortunately for the Maroons, 8 of them came with 2 outs.
Caitlyn Keith and losing pitcher Abby Sensor each had 3 hits for the Maroons (0-4,0-1), while Aaliyah Morales and Loanis Charneco had 2 each.
Cronin sailed through 6 innings, allowing just 1 run, before appearing to tire in the seventh. The Maroons plated 3 runs in their final at-bat, keyed by back-to-back doubles by Keith and Sensor. But Cronin induced 2 groundouts sandwiched around a Sandra Gomez Herrera single to end the game.
"I'm really happy for Kailey," said Larkin coach Anne Vogt. "She's a freshman and she really kept her composure out there. She did a nice job. We knew during that last inning that we were going to see a couple of their big hitters and we let her ride through it. We were confident that we were going to get to the bottom of the inning and wrap it up."
Larkin jumped ahead with 3 runs in the third. Kathy Garcia and Turner each had run-scoring hits. The Royals added 1 more in the fourth on Liz Bowman's RBI double.
Elgin kept picking away against Cronin, getting at least one hit in every inning but the fourth.
"It's the first 7-inning game for us, the first time we didn't get 10-runned, and the best we've looked defensively," said Elgin coach Dr. Nick Bumbales. "Overall, I see improvement every game. They're coming along, it's just going to take a little time. We've got a couple of young kids out there and they're feeling their way through it."